Kings Canyon National Park

Waterfall Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon National Park is not as well known as many
of the other national parks in California. It is small
and has a single short road inside the park. Plus when we
were there in June 2016 some places were still closed due
to damage from a fire in 2015. Even so we enjoyed or
visit.

Fire Damage

We were lucky when we visited because the water flow in
the rivers was at a 5 year high-- thanks to el nino. The
Kings River flows through the canyon which is the second
deepest canyon in the US. There is a lot of water flowing
rapidly through the canyon. Obviously this is not a place
to try white water kayaking. In fact you are not allowed
to enterthe rive in the park.

General Grant Grove

General Grant Grove of giant sequoia trees is one of the
major features of Kings Canyon National Park. The General
Grant Grove was established as its own national park in
1890 to protect the General Grant Tree and other giant
sequia trees. In 1940 congress created Kings Canyon
National Park and incorporated General Grant National
park into Kings Canyon National Park.

Trees in Grant Grove

Grant Grove is an impressive collection of giant sequia
trees. The center piece of the grove is the General Grant
Tree. The General Grant Tree is the second largest tree
in the world, the General Sherman Tree in Sequia National
Park is the largest. The Grant tree is about 1,600 years
old. At one time it was thought to be over 2,000 years
old but recent estimates give it an age of over 1,600
years.

The Grant Tree is often refered to as the nation's
Christmas Tree. President Calvin Coolidge designated the
General Grant as the Nation's Christmas Tree on April
28, 1926.